Evaluative Inquiry: Using Evaluation to Promote Student Success

The author provides educators with a process schools can use to systematically investigate programmes and initiatives to determine their value. She emphasizes analysis and synthesis of information (rather than data collection) and places the inquiry process in the hands of teachers rather than outsiders. The author uses examples drawn from her 20 years of experiences as a school evaluator and builds on current theories about evaluation, systemic change, and how people learn.

Table of Contents:
Foreword by Grant Wiggins Preface Acknowledgments About the Author 1. Introduction: Getting Your Bearings Part 1: Quality 2. Positioning the Quality-Focused Evaluative Inquiry 3. Planning the Quality Evaluative Inquiry 4. Collection of Implementation and Outcome Data 5. Analyzing and Synthesizing the Data 6. Communicating Results of a Quality Inquiry Part 2: Sustainability 7. Positioning the Sustainability Inquiry 8. Planning the Sustainability Inquiry 9. Data Collection and Analysis in the Sustainability Inquiry Design 10. Synthesizing and Communicating Results From a Sustainability Inquiry Part 3: Cultivation 11. Positioning the Cultivation Evaluative Inquiry 12. Planning the Cultivation Inquiry 13. Cultivation Inquiry Data Collection, Analysis, Synthesis, and Communication of Results 14. Conclusion: Enriching and Continuing the Evaluative Inquiry Process Afterword: Change Matters by Michael Fullan References Name Index Subject Index

About the Author :
Beverly A. Parsons is Executive Director of InSites in Colorado. InSites, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, assists education and social service systems through research, evaluation, and planning. She focuses on the evaluation and planning of systemic change. Her evaluation work has involved initiatives to restructure and reculture pre-school through university education systems as well as bring about reform in spe-cific content areas (mathematics, science, humanities, arts, and world languages). She has provided evaluation services to the National Staff Development Council, the NEA Foundation for the Improvement of Education, the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, and numerous other foundations and organizations and has worked on projects in Japan, China, and South Africa, as well as throughout the United States. During her 10-year affiliation with the Denver-based Education Commission of the States (a national interstate compact assisting governors, legislators, and state education and business leaders to improve education through leadership and pol-icy), she led ECS’s comprehensive effort to bring about fundamental changes in the education system at school, district, state, and university levels in partnership with the Coalition of Essential Schools. In her earlier years at ECS she served as Director of the National Assessment of Educational Progress. Much of her early knowledge and skills in assessment, evaluation, and research were honed at the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory in Portland, Oregon, where she served as Director of the Assessment and Measurement Program and while with the Shannon County School District, serving the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. She has published and led seminars on systems change issues and has spoken extensively about them to practitioners and policymakers. She has been on the board of the National Council on Measurement in Education and co-chair of the Clus-ter/Multi-Site Evaluation Topical Interest Group of the American Evaluation Asso-ciation. Her doctorate in educational research and evaluation is from the University of Colorado.

Review :
"Whether you are planning a limited innovation in a few classrooms or implementing new standards as a whole-school or district-wide change, this book will help you chart your course." "In clear, accessible language, Beverly Parsons demystifies evaluation and provides numerous practical examples of how schools can use the methods she describes to better understand the process of change and achieve their goals." “The book contains an excellent list of references and plenty of examples that demonstrate how the evaluative inquiry process can be applied to any school or district. This resource would be useful for any educator, administrator, or community member involved in systemic reform.”